A successful coin handling system typically includes at least three factors. These factors include the accuracy at which the coin denominations are distinguished during the coin-sorting process, the speed at which the coins are sorted, and the ability to control the discharge of the sorted coins for purposes of counting and bagging. Improving the quality of these factors has been an ongoing objective among designers attempting to improve coin handling systems. Unfortunately, improving the quality of any one of these factors will generally result in a degradation of the quality of one of the other factors.
For example, increasing the speed at which the coins are sorted has proven to be inversely related to the quality of controlling the discharge of the sorted coins. Typically, improving the speed at which coins are sorted requires increasing the rotational speed of the rotating disc beneath the stationary head, and controlling the discharge of the sorted coins requires a high-speed mechanical reaction (e.g., blocking the discharge path) and/or suddenly slowing or stopping the rotation of the rotating disc. By increasing the coin-sorting speed, it is that much more difficult to react mechanically and/or to stop the rotation of the rotating disc in timely manner.
Improving the accuracy at which the coin denominations are distinguished during the coin-sorting process has typically required a complete re-tooling of the stationary coin-manipulating head, which is labor intensive and expensive. Moreover, each of these stationary-heads provides a coin-discrimination technique which is acceptably accurate for most commercial applications and only slight improvements in accuracy are obtained by the costly investments involved in redesigning stationary-heads.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved coin sorting system which increases both the speed at which the coins are sorted and the ability to control the discharge of the sorted coins and, at the same time, maintaining the accuracy at which the coin denominations are distinguished during the coin-sorting process.